Author: Scott Neuman

NPR Enlarge this image Vice President Pence and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Gangneung Ice Arena at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, on Feb. 10. Bernat Armangue/AP hide caption toggle caption Bernat Armangue/AP A meeting that was to have taken place between Vice President Pence and representatives of North Korea during the Winter Olympic Games fell apart when Pyongyang suddenly backed out, the State Department says. The meeting, between Pence and Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, was...

GOOGLE NEWS Enlarge this image Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, center, attends a rally in Moscow, Russia, on Sunday. Navalny was arrested while walking with protesters. Evgeny Feldman/AP hide caption toggle caption Evgeny Feldman/AP Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was briefly detained Sunday after a scuffle with police who seized him amid protests in various cities calling for a boycott of the March 18 presidential election. Navalny — a prominent Putin critic and anti-corruption campaigner who leads the country’s Progressive Party and has been disqualified from running for president — was wrestled to the ground by police near a...

GOOGLE NEWS Enlarge this image Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks in Ankara during the funeral prayers for Sergeant Musa Ozalkan, the first Turkish soldier to be killed in Turkey’s cross-border “Operation Olive Branch” in northern Syria, on Tuesday. Kayhan Ozer/AP hide caption toggle caption Kayhan Ozer/AP President Trump, speaking to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wednesday, urged Ankara to scale back its military operations in neighboring Syria following an offensive launched by Turkish forces against U.S.-backed Kurdish insurgents in Syria’s Afrin region. At least that is how the conversation about the Turkish operation, known as “Operation Olive Branch,”...

NPR Enlarge this image White House chief of staff John Kelly pauses to look to a video monitor as he appears on Special Report with Bret Baier on Fox News in Washington, on Wednesday. Carolyn Kaster/AP hide caption toggle caption Carolyn Kaster/AP White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told a caucus of Hispanic lawmakers on Wednesday that he has persuaded President Trump that building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is unnecessary, signaling a possible reversal on the key campaign promise. Kelly, who was secretary of Homeland Security before taking over as chief of staff in July, said...

NPR Enlarge this image This March 29, 2017, photo obtained by The Associated Press, shows Robert Murray of Murray Energy, right, meeting with Energy Secretary Rick Perry at the Department of Energy headquarters in Washington. Simon Edelman/AP hide caption toggle caption Simon Edelman/AP A former Department of Energy photographer has filed a federal whistleblower suit alleging he lost his job after leaking photos of a private meeting between Energy Secretary Rick Perry and a major Trump donor who heads one of the country’s largest mining companies. The photographer, Simon Edelman, took photos of the March 29, 2017 meeting between...

GOOGLE NEWS Enlarge this image Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke speaks on the Trump administration’s energy policy at the Heritage Foundation in Washington in September 2017. Nine of 12 members of the National Park Service advisory board resigned Monday citing Zinke’s unwillingness to meet with the panel. Andrew Harnik/AP hide caption toggle caption Andrew Harnik/AP Three-quarters of the seats on the U.S. National Park Service advisory board are vacant following a mass resignation Monday night, citing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s unwillingness to meet with them. Nine of the panel’s 12 members, led by former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, handed in...

NPR Enlarge this image Demonstrators protest at Sen. Dean Heller’s, R-Nev., office in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and Temporary Protected Status (TPS), programs on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Jose Luis Magana/AP hide caption toggle caption Jose Luis Magana/AP President Trump and congressional Democrats appear no closer to a deal on protecting “Dreamers” from deportation, but GOP lawmakers are working on a Plan B that would — if approved — prevent an election-year shutdown of the government, extending funding at least another month. A continuing resolution is due to expire this Friday, but Republicans have...

GOOGLE NEWS Enlarge this image Pope Francis waves at followers on his way to the Apostolic Nunciature in Santiago, Chile, on Monday. Victor R. Caivano/AP hide caption toggle caption Victor R. Caivano/AP Pope Francis has arrived in Chile to begin a three-day visit, but the Argentinian-born pontiff is likely to receive a less-than-warm reception from a country still reeling from the repercussions of a local priest-abuse scandal. As Emily Green reports for NPR from the Chilean capital, “Around half a million people are expected to attend Pope Francis’ open-air mass in central Santiago. From there, he will visit a...